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®l;i.'ilun|iton aiul tlif yilnion, 



ORATION 



JIK1.IVKKE1) BY 



ly 



HON. ROBERT M. PALMER 



SPEAKER OF THE SENATE OF PENNSYLVANIA, 



5 




The Raising of the National Flag on the Dome of the Capitol, 



ox THE 22d day OF FEBRUARY. 1861. 



RATION. 



TMs is a great occasion. The day, the place, the audience, the 
surroundings, the purpose and meaning of this vast assemblage, — 
all combine to mark it as long to be remembered. It is the anni- 
versary of the Birth Day of Washington, and here, at the Capitol 
of Pennsylvania, are assembled her invited and honored guest, 
the President elect of the United States, her chosen Governor, 
and the Representatives of her more than three millions of people, 
together with a mighty concourse of their constituents. The 
National Stars and Stripes — the Flag of our country — of a Nation 
of thirty millions of free people — just raised to the pinnacle of 
the dome, amid the exultant booming of cannon, the music of our 
National airs, and the signs of great popular joy, by the hands of 
veterans, who, nearly half a century ago, assisted to defend it 
against a powerful enemy, on sea and land, in a glorious and suc- 
cessful war, floats proudly over our heads. 

And on this day, and in this presence, with the words of that 
priceless legacy of his wisdom and patriotism to his country, his 
Farewell Address, still sounding in our ears, you have directed me 
to speak to you of Washington. A great American and a great 
orator once said of true eloquence, that it must exist in the man, 
in the subject, and in the occasion. The subject and the occasion 
are present with us. Would that your chosen orator were more 
nearly equal to his theme ! 

This is not a newly established Anniversary, but the return of 
an old one ; and although always hitherto celebrated by the 
American people with pride and joy, there must be some cause for 

(3) 



this unusual display of popular interest and enthusiasm. It is 
found in the present condition of our National afiairs, in which 
the hearts and minds of the people are turned to contemplate the 
character, services and teachings of Washington, in order to draw 
from the contemplation, lessons of wisdom to guide their action in 
the present fearful emergency. And what more natural and 
proper, Avhen our Union is threatened with destruction, than to 
turn, with anxious earnestness, to him whose Avisdom assisted in 
laying its foundations, Avhose valor established and sustained it, 
whose virtues adorned it, and the influence of whose character 
and example we all fondly hoped, had cemented and rendered it 
perpetual ! 

And if all the people of every other State in the Union were to 
forget or neglect properly to celebrate this day at this time, yet 
could the people of Pennsylvania neither forget nor neglect it. As 
fully as Washington is identified with the American Union, so fully 
is Pennsylvania identified with Washington. The great principles 
of American Liberty, justice, purity and love of humanity, which 
found in him their embodiment, were interwoven into the very 
framework of our original Government, by its illustrious founder, 
William Penn, and grew with our growth and strengthened with 
our strength. It was in 1752, nearly a quarter of a century before 
the Declaration of American Independence, under the direction of 
Isaac Norris, Speaker of the General Assembly of the then 
Province of Pennsylvania, that the old Bell, with its famous and 
prophetic inscription, " Proclaim Liberty throughout the land, and 
to all the people thereof," was cast and suspended in the steeple 
of the State House in Philadelphia ; and it was but a just tribute 
to the well known position of the State, that it was upon our soil 
the sessions of the Federal Congress, which formed the first Federal 
Union and appointed Washington Commander-in-Chief of the 
Army, were held; it was upon our soil that the Declaration, the 
great practical first step towards entire Independence, was made ; 
and it was upon our soil that the Constitution of the United States? 
which resulted in the present Union, was framed. How could 
Washington do otherwise than rest with entire confidence in this 
State and its people ? How can we do otherwise than revere his 
memory and turn to him for aid, when the great fabric of American 



Constitutional liberty is threatened with destruction by internal 



enemies 



How the great Chief loved the Pennsylvania patriot and phi- 
losopher, Benjamin Franklin, and how much he consulted his 
judgment on the gravest questions, the world knows. How he 
loved glorious Anthony Wayne, Penns^dvania's Quaker General, 
and relied upon him in his times of greatest need, they also know ; 
and for years, and to the day of Washington's death, the highly 
prized portraits of Franklin and Wayne, graced the walls of his 
home at Mount Vernon. And every schoolboy knows, that in 
the darkest hour of the almost seven years' night of the Revo- 
lutionary struggle, when hope seemed to have deserted the minds 
of men, Wx\SlliNGTON turned to Pennsylvania's noble son, Robert 
Morris, for relief, and received it. Nor can we forget that good 
patriot, George Clymer, one of the Pennsylvania signers of the 
Declaration, who so effectively assisted Robert Morris in his 
financial arrangements for the struggling colonies ; or omit to 
name among Washington's consistent friends and supporters, the 
preacher General, Peter Muhlenberg, who so ably co-operated with 
Wayne in that most brilliant action of his brilliant career, the 
storming of Stony Point ; and the brave and noble General John 
Cadwallader, one of the heroes of Germantown, Princeton and 
Monmouth, who vindicated, at the risk of his own life, the reputa- 
tion of his beloved Commander-in-Chief, in the punishment of the 
leader of the "Conway Cabal." 

But it was after the bloody and disastrous battle of Brandy wine, 
and the ably planned and bravely fought, though unsuccessful 
field of Germantown, — it was during the prolonged horrors of that 
fearful winter at Valley Forge, that the people of Pennsylvania 
learned to know Washington, to revere his character, and to 
idolize his memory. There they saw an army destitute of every 
comfort — naked, starving and freezing — yet, under the influence 
of the personal presence, moral power and noble example of 
their beloved General, exhibiting a patient suffering and fidelity 
to principle which elicited the admiration of the world, and has 
rendered Valley Forge more glorious to Washington and his 
soldiers, than was Waterloo to Wellington and his victorious army. 
It was this experience which bound Pennsylvania to Washington, 



6 

and his great heart to lier, so that long years afterwards, when 
the people of Western Pennsylvania were excited in opposition to 
a law which they thought bore hard upon their interests, he had 
sufficient confidence in her sons to come among them, and call 
upon them to follow him to the re-establishment of peace and the 
preservation of the authority of that Government which had been 
framed upon her soil. 

His first military achievement which gained him renown was in 
Pennsylvania, when he rallied and rescued from the savages the 
broken fragments of Braddock's proud army; and his last service 
as a military commander was when he came amongst our distracted 
and excited people, and by his courage and prudence re-established 
peace and order. 

The character of Washington, as illustrated during his military 
services in Pennsylvania, and afterwards, during the years of his 
residence at Philadelphia as Chief Magistrate of the Republic, by 
his private and social virtues, stamped itself largely upon the people 
and the institutions of our State ; and to his influence, more than 
that of any other man, is it to be attributed that they have been and 
remain unsurpassed by any other people for loyal patriotism, sterling 
honesty, a love of truth and justice, a regard for the rights of 
their fellow men, and an unshrinking constancy and fortitude 
when summoned to the maintenance of these great principles. If 
to this, candor induces us to add that, perhaps, our peculiar weak- 
ness is a strong love of military glory, rank and display, and a 
strong attachment to military heroes generally, the world will 
recognize the weakness, if it be such, as one that does honor to 
the people whom it characterizes, being but an excess of their de- 
votion to him Avhom all mankind have not hesitated to pronounce 
" of all men that have ever lived, the greatest of good men and 
the best of great men." And so may it ever be, in all time to 
come. May the ingenuous youth of Pennsylvania "still hold up 
to themselves the bright model of Washington's example, and 
study to be what they behold ; may they contemplate his character 
till all its virtues spread out and display themselves to their 
delighted vision ; as the earliest astronomers, the shepherds on the 
plains of Babylon, gazed at the stars till they saw them form into 
clusters and constellations, overpowering at length the eyes of 
the beholders with the united blaze of a thousand lights!" 



You will not expect of me, in the limited time reasonably allot- 
ted to this address, to attempt a detail of the life and services of 
Washington. That work has been often and thoroughly per- 
formed by abler tongues and pens. Ilis noble deeds have found 
their best record upon the warm and grateful hearts of the Ameri- 
can people, and there they will be preserved forever. The hearts 
of the thousands about me are now throbbing with the glorious 
recollections, and they do not ask me to assist in their recall. It 
is to the grand results of all his labors, the Constitution and Union 
of these States, undeniably the best form of Government that the 
world has ever know^n, which have been recently attacked and 
endangered, and the practical lessons afforded by his example and 
the wisdom of his teachings, to which I propose to direct your 
attention. 

I am fully aware of the delicacy of the topic in the excitement 
of the present time, but I conceive that it would not meet your 
just expectations, as I am sure it would not satisfy my own sense 
of the responsibilities and duties of the task you have assigned 
me, were I to shrink from approaching the subject in this view. 
And I pray you to rest assured that, in so doing, I have earnestly 
endeavored to elevate myself above the petty considerations of 
mere personal and partisan expediency, to the higher, clearer, and 
purer atmosphere which naturally and properly surrounds the 
great theme. 

He who does not recognise in Washington the chosen instru- 
ment of a Divine Power for the accomplishment of great and 
benign purposes in behalf of mankind, takes but an Atheistic view 
of the subject. In the events which, commencing with the dis- 
covery of this continent, found their ultimate in the formation of 
the American Union, a Providential design and control may be 
clearly observed. The circumstances which surrounded the incep- 
tion of the expedition of Columbus, the patronage of the good Queen 
Isabella, in the face of the common and almost universal incredu- 
lity, the great interest which she took in his object, even to the 
pawning of her royal jewels to raise the necessary funds ; the 
incidents of the voyage, with inexperienced and ignorant crews, 
for days and nights out on the trackless and unknown ocean ; 
the mutiny of the sailors, and the discovery of land in the very 



! 8 

hour when, under threats of death from his mutinous men, Colum- 
bus, according to his extorted promise, was about to attempt to 
retrace his way, in utter failure and disappointment ; all this true 
history constitutes a story of wonderful and romantic adventure, 
which is not only deeply interesting, but which, in its most strange 
coincidences and results, can hardly be deemed other than Provi- 
dential, as having been guided and controlled by a higher than 
human Power, for the establishment of a great nation on this vir- 
gin continent. 

No less wonderful are the events attending the early settlement 
of this country. That England should see fit, by fierce and un- 
reasonable religious persecutions, to drive out from amongst her 
people that wonderful band of God-fearing men who made up the 
precious freight of the MayfloAver, and sought these shores through 
perils innumerable, yet disregarded by those brave hearts, for 
conscience' sake, and for the sake of religious freedom, was surely 
a policy hard to be accounted for on any rational principle. But 
what Old England lost, New England gained a thousandfold ; and 
the world everywhere has been vastly the gainer, for what the 
persecutors meant for evil, God overruled for good. In their 
original character, the settlers of New England were the chosen 
men of the best blood of the earth ; and the trials and experiences 
through which they passed, rendered them unsurpassed in manly 
virtues and nobleness of character, by any other men who have 
ever lived : 

"Amidst the storm they sang, 

And the stars heard and the sea; 
And the sounding aisles of the dim woods rang. 

To the anthem of the free ! " 

It was impossible that these men and their descendants should 
ever be other than free men. They could not be slaves. The 
Declaration of American Independence and the Revolutionary 
War, resulting in the present Federal Union, were but natural and 
logical sequences in the chain of events commencing Avith the 
landing of the crew of the Mayflower on the rock at Plymouth. 
And the God in whom they trusted, held these, His chosen people, 
in the hollow of His hand, and preserved them and their posterity 
for His own great purposes, in the regeneration of a Continent 



9 

and the establishment of this great Government. It will not be 
destroyed until it lias fully accomplished Ilis mission ; and •we do 
not, cannot believe that that time has yet arrived ! 

The extraordinary character of the men who composed the 
Continental Congress, and selected Washington as their leader, 
awakened the surprise and commanded the admiration of the world. 
The papers issued by that body have deservedly been pronounced 
master-pieces of practical talent and political wisdom. Chatham, 
when speaking on the subject in the House of Lords, could not 
restrain his enthusiasm. "When your lordships," said he, "look 
at the papers transmitted to us from America, — when you consider 
their decency, firmness and wisdom, you cannot but respect their 
cause, and wish to make it your own. For myself, I must declare 
and avow, that in the master states of the world, I know not the 
people or senate who, in such a complication of difficult circum- 
stances, can stand in preference to the delegates of America 
assembled in General Assembly at Philadelphia." 

And of these giant men, Washington was the chosen leader, 
and he justified their choice. What most forcibly impresses us at 
this lapse of time, is the pcrfectness of his character. We may 
not doubt, as a general truth, that "distance lends enchantment 
to the view." Close inspection of the towering mountain — with 
its hoary rocks, and frightful gulfs, and blasted trees, and stunted 
shrubs — destroys the illusion of the "azure hue; " and though we 
may be bowed into awe in the presence of its symbols of majesty, 
the poetical dream of perfect symmetry has passed away from our 
vision forever. We feel it to be thus in respect of all the great 
men, the sages, the statesmen and warriors of antiquity ; and this, 
too, though the perishing of annals and traditions affecting their 
private life, awakens the suspicion that many of them are little 
better than myths. It has been said that "no man is a hero to 
his valet," and a knowledge of our own infirmities, and of the weak- 
ness of our contemporaries, allows of little scruple in endorsing 
that quaint conceit. We may concede it as applicable, in a greater 
or less degree, to every mortal, in every age and clime ; yet it 
would seem that one man, by reason of his singular merit, has 
been exalted into a memorable exception by the unanimous verdict 
of the civilized world. 



10 

This judgment is not born of ignorance regarding his childhood 
and youth, nor of the details of his eventful history, dating in the 
energy and activity of early manhood and consummated in the 
dignity and solemnity of Mount Vernon. He was peculiarly a 
"marked man" from the middle of the eighteenth century imtil 
its ending. Born in 1732, engaged in responsible duties at sixteen 
years of age, and finishing his course in the closing month of 
1799, he was so far the "observed of all observers" that no man's 
life is more minutely recorded, in his domestic, social and public 
relations. Kindred who loved him, friends who admired him, 
enemies who feared him, spies who waited for his halting, traitors 
who thought to supersede and destroy him, — all these, with loving 
or with ogre eyes, and with abundant opportunities of knowing 
what he was, in his inAvard life and its outward expression, make 
and confirm the acknowledgment that he Avas every inch a man, 
in the nobility of his sentiments, and in every respect of character 
which rears the column of imperishable renown. 

It is not as viewed through the gathering haze of distance that 
Washington claims this honorable, universal testimonial ; nor is 
there decreasing regard as we consider him, not in aggregated 
completeness, but in the details of his thoughts and life. A few 
fanatics, indeed, have, of late years, cursed his memory as a slave- 
holder ; and others of an opposite extreme, may be equally bitter 
in denunciation for a difierent reason ; yet the views of the great 
moralist and statesman were far in advance of public enlighten- 
ment on the vexed question of involuntary servitude, and those 
views were confirmed by his deeds. 

"I never mean," such was his record in 1786, "I never mean, 
unless some particular circumstances should compel me to it, to 
possess another slave by purchase ; it being among my first wishes 
to see some plan adopted by which slavery in this country may be 
abolished by law." 

Eleven years later, that record was renewed. " I wish," said 
he, "I wish from my soul that the Legislature of this State could 
see the policy of a gradual abolition of slavery. It might prevent 
much future mischief," — a thought prophetic of embarrassments 
which hang this day, as a dark cloud, upon the horizon of this 
land of light and liberty. 



11 

By his last will and testament, dated a few months preceding 
his death, he provided for the emancipation of all his slaves, at 
the same time expressing his regret that legal complications pre- 
vented the immediate consummation of his wish that freedom 
should forthwith be the inheritance of all whom he held in bonds. 
The aged and infirm he directed to be comfortably clothed and 
fed by his heirs ; and all the children bound to service until they 
reached the ago of twenty-five years, he directed should be taught 
to read and write, and be brought up to some useful occupation, 
agreeably to the laws of Virginia, providing for the support of 
orphan and other poor children. " And I do hereby expressly 
forbid the sale or transportation out of the said Commonwealth of 
any slave I may die possessed of, under any pretence whatever. 
And I do, moreover, most pointedly and most solemnly, enjoin it 
upon my executors to see that this clause respecting slaves, and 
every part thereof, be religiously fulfilled." 

Such were the long cherished views, and such the solemn in- 
junction of the noble man whose birth we celebrate this day. I 
make the allusion to his estimate of slavery with no sectional, 
political or party feeling or interest, but in answer to the criticism 
of extremists, who, on this hand, condemn him as a slaveholder, 
and on that, ignore his comprehensive desire that the institution 
of slavery should be utterly abolished ; and in justification of 
Pennsylvania, and her ancient and consistent position on this sub- 
ject. If the people of this State love their own free institutions 
better than any other, it is largely because of the teachings and 
example of Washington. 

We usually consider it an axiom of justice, that a man should 
be judged by the age in which he lived, and by the standard of 
the community in which he has his citizenship. It is the high 
encomium of Washington, that he has little need of the charity 
which springs from this fair method of estimating character. He 
was a slaveholder by inheritance, but an emancipationist by convic- 
tion ; and it is a justifiable thought that, were he living this day, 
he would indignantly rebuke that ultraism which, both on the ros- 
trum and in the pulpit, has endorsed involuntary bondage as an 
institution of value to both races, to be perpetuated world without 
end. Gathered around Washington and standing reverently un- 



12 

covered in his presence, we confirm his judgroent in the premises ; 
yet would we also remember that he was the owner of men as 
chattels, though he wished it were otherwise ; and so, in this 
seemingly two-fold character, feel him to be a bond of union be- 
tween the North and the South. 

Is it only a fancy, indulged in my hasty preparation for this 
occasion, or is it a reality growing out of the cross purposes of 
Divine Providence, that the apparent incongruity to which I refer 
was needed in the building up of a truly national man f Had he 
ignored and practically condemned the institution of slavery — or, 
being a slaveholder, had he upheld it as of Divine authority, or 
as an institution honorable by reason of its morally wholesome 
influences, little sympathy could have been awakened for him in 
one or other of the extremes of our great Confederacy, as affecting 
this overmastering element of governmental policy ; and this day 
there would be silence in regard to his memory, or faint praise, in 
one or other of those extremes, according as he had been wholly 
on this side or on tliat of the absorbing question. Yet now may 
we form a circle of brotherhood in this broad land of seemingly 
adverse interests, and with Washington standing by the central 
shrine of Political Liberty, claim him to be the National Man, 
whose name shall yet recover the lost Pleiades, and restore the 
harmony of the constellation of the Union ! 

It is, therefore, with no partizan or sectional view that I refer, 
on this occasion, to his practice and his convictions, in antagonism. 
Rather would I make his mediatorial character a theme from which 
may be derived a lesson of charity and conciliation, without any 
compromise of principle. I would fain hope that as he stands in 
majesty before us, extending one hand to the South and the other 
to the North, we may bow ourselves to receive the blessings of the 
Father of his Country, and rise invigorated by his spirit of 
forbearance and concord. 

If Napoleon or Wellington exceeded him in the splendor of 
their military achievements, we must remember the masses they 
controlled, and the feeble means at his disposal. lie more than 
illustrated the "masterly inactivity" for which a great Roman 
was renowned. But when occasion served, as at Trenton and at 
Princeton, he stooped, like the eagle, upon the prey, and his 



13 

proud and powerful enemies found, to their utter disma}^ mortifi- 
cation and discomfiture, tliat, with all the disproportion of means, 
wealth and power, there were " blows to be received as well as 
given/ in the great contest for Liberty. And when we consider 
the diverse and opposing interests of the Colonies engaged in the 
War of Independence — that there was no consolidation, but only 
a confederation of weak and insufficient powers to enforce its 
decrees, and that Washingtox succeeded in harmonizing these 
conflicting elements, educing order from this chaos, and in bring- 
ing the war to a successful issue, it is here that the perfection of 
his character and his statesmanlike qualities shine even more 
conspicuously than in the after years of his accession to the 
Presidency, when the experience of its necessity had compelled 
the people to the adoption of the present Constitution, " in order 
to form a more perfect union, establish justice, ensure domestic 
tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general 
welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to themselves and their 
posterity." 

Through the long years of the Revolutionary struggle, in the 
formation of the Constitution, and in the oro-anization and 
administration of the Government, God was with Washington, 
and has been with us, as a people, since. The tree of American 
Liberty, which our fathers planted and nurtured with their blood, 
has grown to be of mighty proportions and exceedingly beautiful, 
so that many thousands of men, of all nations of the earth, have 
gathered under its protecting branches, and sought comfort in its 
shade. One practical lesson that we would draw from these great 
truths is, that, as God was with Washington, and as his labors 
and their results — the Constitution and the Union — met the 
Divine approval, and have received the Divine support, there can 
be no "higher law" for the American citizen than the Constitu- 
tion of his country, and no higher duty after the service of the 
God of our fathers, than the faithful observance and support of 
that Constitution ; and that those who would " hawk at and tear 
it," and by their teachings seek to set aside its binding force upon 
our consciences, under pretence that there is a "higher law" for 
us, are not to be regarded. The work of John Brown, in Vir- 
ginia, whatever Northern fanatics may say, was not God's work, 



14 

but that of tlie adversary of men ; and those who follow his 
example, will meet and deserve his fate. So, those who would 
have Pennsylvania repudiate an obligation of the Constitution of 
the United States, under pretence that it is contrary to good con- 
science to fuDS.! it, seek to be wiser than that Omniscience Avho, 
for great and good ends, raised up Wasuington and his contem- 
porary sages and patriots, and inspired their hearts. 

And those Southern extremists, secessionists and disunionists, 
who madly hasten to the destruction of the noble fabric of our 
Government, under pretence of securing for themselves greater 
freedom, prosperity and happiness, will gain only an immortality 
of infamy, in comparison to which that of him 

"Who fired the Ephesian dome," 

is honorable distinction. 

Not that I desire to be understood as advancing the doctrine 
that the Constitution is perfect, and, therefore, not to be altered 
or amended. Only that, as it stands, it is the most perfect instru- 
ment of its kind, and has secured the best form of Government, and 
the freest, happiest and most prosperous people that the world has 
ever known, and that any alterations or amendments of it that 
may become necessary, in our National development, need not be 
sought by fanatical nullification or repudiation of its existing pro- 
visions, nor by the hand of revolutionary violence, but may be 
best had in the regular, peaceful and orderly mode provided in the 
Constitution itself. The conclusion which we have drawn from the 
work and teachings of Washington, that it is our highest duty as 
citizens, to sustain the Constitution and faithfully carry out its 
provisions, involves no unmanly sacrifice of principle, nor surren- 
der of our own convictions, but it does involve the Christian duty 
of "rendering unto Csesar the things which are Cesar's," and of 
" doing unto others whatsoever we would that others should do 
unto us." 

I fully appreciate the entire and apparently irreconcilable dif- 
ference of opinion at present existing between the people of dif- 
ferent sections of our common country, on the subject of the insti- 
tution of slavery, and I do not expect soon to see this diff'erence 
removed. But is its existence necessarily a cause of strife and 



15 

enmity of one portion of the people against another ? Can- 
not we meet together as our fathers met, and discuss and de- 
cide this, as they discussed and decided equally grave questions of 
difference. Is there no other or better way to settle disputes in 
this latter half of the nineteenth century, in the American Re- 
public, and in the full blaze of Christian light and civilization, 
than for brother possessors of a common heritage of liberty, to 
war with each other, destroy the noble legacy of their fathers, 
and their own prosperity and happiness, blight the rich future of 
their posterity, devastate with fire and sword, and deluge in fra- 
ternal blood, humanity's refuge — the world's last, best hope ? 

Certainly such is not the lesson Pennsylvania learned from 
Washington — certainly this is not the spirit nor these the objects 
with which she Avill approach the question of the solution of our 
present National difficulties. 

When recently Virginia invited Pennsylvania to join with her 
in an effort to preserve and perpetuate the work of Washington, 
the invitation was promptly and cordially accepted. How could 
Pennsylvania refuse the invitation of Virginia to such a work ? — 
Pennsylvania and Virginia ! " Shoulder to shoulder they went 
through the Revolution — ^hand in hand they stood romid the ad- 
ministration of Washington, and felt his own great arm lean on 
them for support;" and with the help of that God, in whom he 
trusted, and in whose great name and fear he acted, and through 
whose strength he triumphed, the sons of Virginia and Pennsyl- 
vania sires will yet sustain the mighty fabric of the Union ! 

And here to-day, assembled under the flag of our country, to do 
honor to ourselves in honoring the name and memory of Washing- 
ton ; in the presence of him whom the American people have re- 
cently chosen to administer the duties of the high office which Wash- 
ington first filled so admirably and with so much advantage to his 
country, and of these noble men, whose brave hearts and strong 
arms sustained its stars and stripes during the storm of war in 
our country's youth, and by whose hands it has just been elevated, 
the veterans who remain to remind us of the deeds of valor and 
patriotism by which that flag has been made the universally re- 
spected emblem of our National greatness, power and glory, let 
us renew our vows of fidelity to the Constitution and the Union. 



16 

Let us unite with them in a prayer to God, that " when our eyes 
shall be turned to behold for the last time, the sun in Heaven, 
we may not see him shining on the broken and dishonored frag- 
ments of a once glorious Union ; on States dissevered, discordant, 
belligerent ; on a land rent with civil feuds, or drenched it may be 
it fraternal blood ! That their last feeble and lincrerinj]!; glance 
may rather behold the gorgeous ensign of the Republic, now hon- 
ored throughout the earth, still full high advanced, its arms and 
trophies streaming in their original lustre, not a stripe erased or 
polluted, nor a single star obscured — having for its motto no such 
miserable interrogatory as. What is all this worth ? nor those other 
words of delusion and folly. Liberty first and Union afterivards ; 
but everywhere, spread all over in characters of living light, blazing 
on all its ample folds, as they float over the sea and over the land, 
and in every wind under the whole heavens, that other sentiment, 
dear to every true American heart — "Liberty and Union, now and 
fovever, one and inseperable !" 

And may God protect and bless the President elect of the United 
States, whom he has called to the performance of high and im- 
portant duties at this solemn and difficult period in our hietory. — 
The people of Pennsylvania, by their votes in favor of his election, 
have confided their interests and their honor to his keeping, and 
the vast destinies and future welfare of the Union are largely 
committed to his charge. And here, in behalf of the people of 
Pennsylvania, let me thank him for his recent public declarations 
of fraternal feeling and justice of intention towards the people of 
the Southern States — that " they are to be treated as Washing- 
ton, Jefferson and Madison treated them — that their institutions 
are in no way to be interfered with — that he will abide by every 
compromise of the Constitution." And further, that " they are 
our fellow-citizens, friends and brethren, equally devoted with our- 
selves to the Constitution, and that there is no difference be- 
tween them and us, other than the difference of local circum- 
stances." These are the sentiments of Washington, and the 
sentiments and principles Pennsylvania meant to sustain when 
her people voted for Abraham Lincoln ; and if they be made 
good by the President of our choice, as we trust and believe, and 
are confident that he will make them good to the extent of his 



17 

ability, peace and quiet and fraternal love will soon be restored 
to our country, and with hearts overflowing with thankfulness to 
Almighty God for rescue from threatened danger, and renewed 
and invigorated by a sense of His kind Providence, in relieving 
us from present perils, we will again enter on our former career 
of glory and prosperity as a Nation ; and the people will rise up 
and bless the name of him who was the chosen instrument in the 
great work. 

But whatever may be the result of these our National trials, 
Washington belongs to the world and to mankind ; and if his 
own countrymen see fit madly to cast away the priceless blessings 
he so largely assisted to bestow upon them, the world elsewhere will 
still remember to bless and cherish his memory as a distinguished 
benefactor of his race — as one who assisted materially to advance 
the best interests of humanity, and "when oblivion shall have 
swept aAvay thrones, kingdoms and principalities — when human 
greatness and grandeur and glory shall have mouldered into dust, 
eternity itself shall catch the glowing theme and dwell with in- 
creasing rapture on his name !" 

In the erection of the Washington Monument there were con- 
tributions from every nation and every clime ; from the half civil- 
ized Mohammedans of the African coast; from the sands of Egypt, 
a nation, whose history has long been lost in the dim ages of the 
past — from the classic plains of Italy and Greece, those ancient 
nurseries of the arts and sciences — from the newly found islands 
of the Pacific — from every nation of modern Europe, as well as 
from every mountain and valley of our own beloved land. These 
will remain enduring monuments to his memory, even if the disrup- 
tion of this country prevents that shaft from towering to the skies. 

Should a dividing line be drawn between the North and South, 
that spot upon the banks of the Potomac, where he passed the peace- 
ful days of his life, and where his mortal remains now repose, will 
ever be, to the philanthropist and the friend of liberty, hallowed 
ground ; and the pilgrim from every land, when he visits the shores 
of America, will turn his steps to that tomb, which the patriotism of 
her daughters has given to futurity for an inheritance. For 

" Such graves as his are pilgrim shrines, 

Shrines to no creed or code confined ; 
The Delphic groves — the Palestines — 

The Meccas of the mind !" 



t./ 









Itttashinnton and the iliiioii. 



ORATION 



DELIVERED BY 



HON. ROBERT M. PALMER, 



SPEAKini OF THE SENATE OF PENNSYLVANIA, 



AT II A II RIS BURG, 



The Raising of tlie National Flag on the Dome of the 



ON THE 22i) DAY OF FEBRUARY, 1861. 





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